5.0 out of 5 stars Giving transgender proper analysis: an essential read., 25 Feb 2012
This review is from: Recognizing Transsexuals (Hardcover)
Recognising Transsexuals: Personal, Political and Medico-Legal Embodiment.
For anyone working in the field of transsexualism and indeed the broader domain of transgender I would suggest this book is a key text to have on the reading list. It takes a detailed and broad scoping look at the interface of transsexualism as a phenomenon within the individual, society, the medical profession, and law. A real strength of this book is that it is highly relevant to the UK position and more importantly that the author is showing how the definition of transsexualism has moved on, illustrating in the narrative the broad scoping possibilities offered by the more fluid and dynamic definition implicit in ‘transgender’.
This is an informative book then, with its research and focus based predominantly in the UK but with direct relevance to Europe and other Western cultures. The author leads us through an exploration of the phenomenon of transsexualism, highlighting the way traditional medical and legal conceptualisations of gender were caught up in ‘hegemonic and stereotypical cultural ascriptions of masculinity and femininity’. Diagnostic psychiatric manuals have themselves previously been framed from within the essentialist hetero-normative assumptions of the past, and thus historically, atypical gender identifiers were seen as some form of sexual inversion. However, new scientific knowledge and contemporary philosophical understandings are offering new ways of conceptualising the phenomenon, and, as an emerging generation of transgender and gender-queer individuals challenging the status quo we find the old medical models are simply no longer fit for purpose.
The book considers the interplay of political, legal and medical systems of sexual and gender regulation, and looks at the ways that transpeople themselves have been interactive (and increasingly proactive) in shaping specific pathways and potentials. The book gives careful consideration to the social currency of the physical body – as humans within a social society we are all subject to visual-aesthetic judgement by others and it is naive to dismiss the importance (in terms of its impact on our social relations) of the physicality we present to others. This is of course particularly significant for a transperson in terms of how one is read and or understood by others. I felt a particular strength of this book is that it devoted a decent amount of space to drawing some distinctions between the relative importance of specific body surgeries between transman and transwoman. Another strength is that it also draws attention to the recent emergence of genderqueering – the deliberate deconstruction and troubling of gender norms by a new generation of predominantly younger transgender individuals who refuse to be constrained by old school definitions of how they should express their gender identity. These are exciting times.
This book comes at a time when new knowledge and information about transgender and gender-queering is increasingly shared over the internet as gender-queer individuals find connections with others who can validate their unique experiences and create new ways of knowing and defining their experiences. Outdated medical models no longer reflect the new diversity of this group as finally we escape the legacy of the early gatekeepers of transsexual realisation. In the past it is acknowledged that one needed to become a ‘proper’ or convincing ‘man or woman’ post surgery and to offer an a priori ‘unambiguous developmental story’. Variously referred to as ‘learning the script’ these carefully rehearsed narratives reflected an anxiety about failing to convince the gatekeepers and therefore losing access to treatment: but this undoubtedly led to the distortion and indeed corruption of data, and increasingly now we are recognising that different developmental stories exist- each valid in their own ways. And equally significant, in terms of desired outcomes, there is increasing acknowledgement that there are differing stopping points with regard to transition.
In summary then, within the pages of this book, we find a well researched and neatly presented discourse on the phenomenology of queer genders that considers not only the historical contexts from which diagnosis such as transsexualism and transvestism were derived, but moves on to give the reader a more balanced and informed position of contemporary understandings of gender queering. It highlights the way in which the conceptualisation of these identities is continually evolving as a result of a complex interplay of scientific breakthrough, social activism within the queer community, and political evolution in legal systems (for example the Gender Recognition Act and Single Equality Act ). These factors are all influential in the way in which people may inhabit and embody gendered identities that are at variance with one denoted at birth.
If I had a criticism of the book, (asides from the cost which sadly will put it outside the reach of many who would benefit from reading it) it is that like so many in this field, the language structure is in places somewhat complex and the writing style leans heavily towards the academic genre, performing and reiterating an academic elitism that may afford it respect in that milieu, but then runs the risk of leaving it less accessible to others who would really benefit from the insights and observations. That said, I’d not wish to put potential readers off – even if you have to re-read the odd paragraph a couple of times, the effort really is worth it.
In conclusion then, I’d say this is an intelligently written, well researched and thoughtfully considered text that I believe will add very usefully to current understandings and thinking in this fascinating field. It would be fair to say that this book certainly has the potential to achieve its aim of affording a better recognition to the broad diversity of transsexual experiences and can therefore enhance the understanding within the psychiatric and psychology professions of this particular client group – a minority who have been so seldom properly researched in such depth or with such careful consideration.
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